Google Chrome Sticker :)

When I was a studying in the UK (I was very young then), during the holiday I would have to go and stay with my guardians, they were great and I was totally lucky to have them looking after me. Sometime ago I realised how Google is like a guardian to me, through the various services Google knows me better than my real parents ever could... Contacts (friends and acquaintances), e-mails (most of my communication), Searches/Browser (my questions and queries), Blogger (my life), Buzz (my thoughts, not much here, preferred to follow than be followed), Photographs (my important events (picasaweb))... hell, if I have amnesia all I need to do is log into 2 sites (of course I would have also forgotten my passwords), Facbook and Google that should cover 95% of my entire life, how sad/dangerous is that?

Anyway, weeks and weeks ago I found myself ‘liking’ Google Chrome on FB, and they were giving away free Chrome sticker... Of course being such a worshiper that I am, I had to apply for one, I think they were only giving away 2,000 pieces. At that time I never thought I was going to get one, just went through the mechanic of filling in the form and clicked send... then wiped it totally from my mind.

Then at the middle of this month (14.08), a large envelope arrived at the door step from Google, and having totally forgotten about the sticker, I had no idea what it could have been... ‘an invoice for all the services I am using?’, ‘a letter saying ‘we have lost all of your data?’’, ‘a questionnaire?’... After the reveal I was of course over the brilliant moon... :)

As I don’t have a notebook at the moment, and so I am still thinking where to put the sticker, but even if I have a notebook I doubt if I would put this sticker on it, notebook only lasts 3 years max... I am planning to put this where the hardware lasts forever... and it came to me last night...

The new Fridge... is the perfect place! Just bought a new fridge for the new place, it has a titanium metallic grey shell, it will lasts well over 10 years (I hope it will lasts many years longer especially considering how expensive it was), it will get great visibility... it is perfect... now all I have to do is to get the permission from the wife :)

Squashed Frog?

Woke up one morning to find you still sleeping but in this foetal position, obviously had to post it on facebook, one of the friend from the UK coined the term ‘squashed frog’, and it seemed perfect as an description… :)

What a Great Idea (Little Gym)

Your mother had decided to move your Little Gym session from thirteen thirty to ten fifteen... and what a great idea that was :) Firstly, the roads have less traffic, finding a parking space was a singe, we could walk without bumping into others... At the end we have decided to keep this time slot... I mean just look at your face :)

Certainly not a Hunger Strike…

You have no idea how stressful we are all feeing at the moment, for some strange reason you had decided to stop eating solid food, whereas before it was so easy to feed you. We are still deciding on the reason for this sudden change, may be you just got bored with the menu... Luckily you are sucking down more milk than ever before...

Your mother is putting on a brave face, but inside she is screaming... she had gone to the end of the earth to dream up of new menu, but all you do is chew, then after a while spit it all out (now and then you would swallow to the cheering and clapping of your mother and me). It is certainly not a physical thing, so we are all kind of stumped...

Decided to do a little research and talked to my guardian (she used to be a Health Visitor), your reaction is certainly not unique, we just have to remain calm, there are a few things we are doing apart from giving you new menu. We now sit down together to have our meals, we let you feed yourself (although most of it ends on the floor), put on a brave face and keep the meal time relax and fun...

We are hoping you’ll snap out of it soon; by the way today was your first day at proper school... (Kindergarten)

Google Image Swirl?

I mean how many of us have heard of this? Google Image Swirl is a part of Google Labs (a place of Google’s new ideas), recently I had created a new bookmark folder named ‘Google’ due to the dizzily great number of sites that is so captivating (sometimes useful and sometimes useless, but exciting nonetheless).

You started off just like Google Image search
 

 
 
I love bananas (especially when they are in pyjamas)… here is the normal drop down box :)
 
  

So here is the first set of result, nothing exciting here… please note the ‘organization chart’ like at the top of the page…
 
 
 
Click the tile once more and you’ll get…
    
 
Just a new way of representing search result for images, but what can I say, there is no way I am going back to the plain old images.google :) On a more serious side, to be able to see linkage and alternative associate pictures just widens one’s horizon, to me it is just like Thesaurus when you are just searching, very, very useful. 
 
Of course you could click and dig down further, each time the pictures rotates and expand the part you have just clicked… There are not delay, the transition is smooth so in terms of execution it is very good, although as expected the time images are quite low res but suitable for you to make you decision if you are interested in that picture or not.
 
So here is another bookmark in my Google’s bookmarks folder… :)

(Note (25.08.10): not all terms are searchable on ‘swirl’, I tried to search for ‘Sony Nex5’ and what I got was “<Sorry, this query not included in the demo>”)

Suddenly Missing England…

I was riding pillion again this morning, the sky was really blue and the sun was more cheerful than usual, the air was cool due to the recent rain and the traffic was light enough so the motorcycle taxi didn’t need to pretend it was doing the downhill Alpine slalom, which was a nice change (and relief).
 
Suddenly there was a familiar smell of freshly cut grass, just like all those Hollywood movies... fade to ‘flash back’ :) there were several images in my mind, with one single thread between them all, England.
 
And for a moment I was totally missing England, after spending my most important years there (10 to 20 (something)), it has been just a little over ten years since I had left, but now and then something would trigger the fond memories, and today it was the smell of the freshly cut grass, what a way to start one’s morning.
 
Lately things have just been piling on and on, at work, moving home, the baby being poorly (although not anymore), now and then I could sense the panic attack edging ever so close, close enough to be whispering in my ear... feels like a huge weight being slowly lowered from above and showing no sign of mercy. The heart pounds harder and harder; air thinning all around, making each breathe more difficult than the one before.
 
I’d guess all that made me missed England even more, back to a simpler time where the only responsibility I had was to show up to class on time and get good (passable) grades :) Of course that could never be again nor would I want it again, as I wouldn’t trade my family for anything.
 
Responsibility is mandatory in life, it is a part of growing up, at the beginning my parents had to sacrifice the things they enjoy for me, and now it is time for me to be ‘responsible’, to be a good son, to be a good husband and father, to be a good friend, to be a good colleague, to be tied down to the monthly mortgage that is anchoring one to a job that one doesn’t particularly enjoy.
 
Logically there would always be someone in a worst or better situation than us, and many will say you shouldn’t complaint; others are facing worst things... I totally agree, but if everyone was logical I’d guess there would be fewer suicides around the world, sometimes logic just doesn’t come into play, it just sat on the bench begging to be put on the pitch.
 
Rambling a little too much now, hope things will improve for others who are feeling down in the dump, although they are probably better off than so many others... of course that would include yours truly as well.

Summer School :)

12.07.2010 was your first day at school, admittedly it really wasn’t proper schooling only a ‘summer school’ (for the time being) at Noddy Playgroup, real schooling will start in September also at Noddy :) We have started preparing for this day, one week prior, and as I have told you earlier one of the biggest things we had to change was your daily schedule, and this week long dress rehearsal paid off beautifully.

The iPhone started screaming at 05:30, stumbling my way out of the warm cosy bed, down the stairs, along the short corridor and straight to the kitchen. The routine was well rehearsed, the night before I had already put three full spoon of brown rice in a small dish, this saved about two minutes, and of course every minute counts. The rice go into the saucepan, rinsed once then filled the pan back up with water, put it on the stove with the lid and cranked up the heat to full... 5:40... and counting.
 
To the freezer is next, since you were born we had carefully prepared and categorised the meat, liver (pork and chicken), minced pork (rolled up in palm size ball laced with flour and light seasoning), pieces of chicken, spare ribs, beef (not anymore) and so on, all contained in individualised Tupperware stacked neatly in the freezer. For this today’s breakfast, I needed mince pork and a couple of spare ribs, all that went to the microwave straight from the freezer, 5 minutes on power level 1…

Vegetables (by the way all of the menus come from your mother, I am just the hands here :)) fresh spinach and fresh coriander… After carefully picking only the tender leaves to fill about a handful, then chopping it up nice and fine… ‘Ding’, the meat (now thawed) and vegetables are now ready to be put into the boiling brown rice… (Note to self: must not forget to lower the heat).

The cat comes next (no, this isn’t a part of your menu), recently we had adopted a cat, actually for the past couple of months I have been climbing over into the neighbouring house, to feed this small kitten (it’s mother had disappeared for a few days, before I decided to do something), and last week it was big enough to climb the fence and now it is living under our roof, he is super cute, and you love to play with him, so we let him stay :) Putting the food out for the cat took about a minute and another nine minutes to play with it :) 05:55...

The next 30 minutes is freestyle, a pray, watering plants, washing up and so on :) the time I was waiting for was 06:30, this is when you (usually) wake up. Of course your mother would have already been up and got herself ready... From now on the precise timing goes out of the window, everything is in your hands...

We needed to get to Noddy before 09:00, ideally we would like to be there by 08:45, this would give you time to mingle with your friends before your ‘good morning song’... So the wheels need to be turning by 07:30 (at the very latest), in that hour from you waking up to us putting your little arse in the car seat, your mother had to be on her top form... and she usually was. In an hour you had to be fed, washed and dressed, trust me it is easier said and done, one needed a patience of a saint, footwork of Pele + Maradona + Messi + Mohammed Ali, hand speed of Bruce Lee and strength of Hercules... No wonder your mother is in such good shape :) 
 
  
Believe it or not Noddy is only 25 Kms away, but the traffic is so bad we have to allow at least an hour and a half for the road (that is why we have decided to move). Making it there in an hour and a half is an achievement in itself :) to see you lined up with your friends and (trying) to sing your ‘Good Morning song’ was totally worth all of the effort... :)

NEX5 (& Photoscape): Road Test :)

Just happened to be one of our colleague’s birthday today, as usual it was a chance to stuff our faces with cakes and coffee :) and time to have a quick break from the grind of Tuesday afternoon :)

The NEX5 came in handy, the focus speed was quick, only took one shot and it turned out to be not too bad.

For post processing, decided to use Photoscape, it had been recommended by a friend, and I can understand why, simple and straight forward (usually I would load this up in Gimp (another fav. of mine).

Feeling pretty bad…

It must have been last week when your mother took you to the doctor, on that morning she discovered that your hair was falling more than usual, a lot more than usual.

The doctor decided that the hair thing was nothing to worry about, but he was a little concern with  your cold that have been very persistent (almost 2 weeks now), and that your temperature was still a tiny, tiny bit higher than your normal.

So you were given loads of medicine… I would rather put both hands, as well as my head in a bowl of boiling hot oil than giving you your medicine…
 
 
For a while it was simple, we just added it to your milk, then you got wiser so that strategy went out of the window. Ran out of idea so we decided to go back to how the nurse did it… syringe… squirting it into the cheek of you mouth… like all things, theory = simple, in practice = f-ing impossible.

When we did it the first time, you puked up your dinner and all the medicine… note to self… never give medicine after meal, even an hour after meal. Talking about a mental barrier, we hate giving you medicine… things are slowly getting better, but I think I am squeezing your mouth too hard (feeling rather bad about it at the moment), well it’s like a learning curve on both sides, you are now very skilful in pushing out medicine with your tongue, and I am getting in better in my timing… only to inject the medicine when you are not crying… So, I am sorry baby, but you need your medicine to make you better… :)

Continuous, fixed exposure & focus

Traffic was just a little too slow, so there was time to whip out the cam. (Nex 5), decided to test the continuous drive… quickly, dove down into the some what confusing menu (could be because I have not used a Sony system before), found what I needed ‘Speed Continuous’ (simply, fixed exposure and fixed focus).

Composition was tough, decided that I must have the rear side mirror in view, after that the composition was kind of decided for me… Putting this .gif together was easier than drinking a pint of bitter on a rainy Sunday evening, using Gimp and a few clicks… that was it.

What a lark… not a bad camera, I wished they could have made it more ergonomic, surely a couple more dials couldn’t hurt (lol, only kidding Sony). Because of this model, I am now paying a lot more attention to the rest of the Alpha line… Perhaps their full frame??? only if the keep their pixel density LOW… :)